Why Was Vindolanda Built - 1419 Words

Vindolanda Vindolanda was one of a series of Roman forts built in northern England (Northumberland) in the last quarter of the 1st Century AD. It became an auxiliary fort which also had a substantial element of civilian accommodation. The forts stretched from east to west, and are considered to have been a consolidation of the frontier of the Roman Empire. The Romans invaded southern Britain in AD43, and slowly moved north. At one point, they had hoped to conquer all of Britain, but never succeeded. Roman armies had advanced far into Scotland in the 70s AD. But either by choice or necessity, they abandoned these gains and formed a frontier stretching roughly from modern Newcastle in the east to modern Carlisle in the west. The†¦show more content†¦The tribe agreed to give their land to the Romans unlike the Brigantes. Another tribe apart from the picts were the Brigantes which were a divided group from the Northern England. Most of these would not like each other due to any reaso n and had hatred against the Romans. The Brigantes fought, and eventually the Romans fell back to the more defensible Hadrians Wall. When the Roman Emperor Hadrian visited Britain in 122 AD he recognised the difficulties in establishing control in Caledonia and saw that it would be impossible to introduce the Picts to the Roman way of life. The Emperor therefore ordered the construction of a great defensive wall which would mark the northern limits of his empire and consolidate the hold on those parts of Britain already subdued. Hadrians empire would not include Caledonia. The Romans also had to defend Hadrians Wall, against attacks by Picts and other tribes these people lived in northern Britain, outside the Roman part. Soldiers sent to defend the wall lived in forts and camps. Vindolanda was a very well planned fort that was constructed on a flat hill at Northumberland at approximately 122AD.The fort itself was a playing-card shape which allowed the soldiers to see round the corne r. The main site is on the top of a hill with much able to be viewed, plus a full size reproduction of a section of wall. It was one of the most important forts in